By STEVEN R. WEISMAN

Published: February 23, 2005

President Bush's determined effort to raise Russia's crackdown on independent businesses and internal dissent with President Vladimir V. Putin when they meet this week is likely to get a tart response, according to the Russian ambassador to the United States, Yuri Ushakov.

In written answers to questions submitted by The New York Times before Mr. Bush left for Europe on Sunday, Mr. Ushakov said Mr. Putin was likely to respond to Mr. Bush's criticism by raising ''our own concerns about the situation in the United States and certain troubling aspects of Washington's policies.''

He noted that ''parts of public opinion in Russia are not necessarily supportive of some of America's actions in certain regions of the world'' and that ''there are others who are highly critical of your electoral system.''

Mr. Ushakov did not offer specifics, but Bush administration officials suggested that he was referring to such matters as the detention of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guant?mo Bay, Cuba, and the 2000 presidential election, in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mr. Bush in a recount dispute, effectively securing his victory.

The ambassador's comments provided a glimpse into the difficulties of relations with Russia, which have been strained by recent actions in Moscow and also apparently by the administration's support for the pro-Western presidential candidate in Ukraine and its decision, signaled in Mr. Bush's inaugural address, to make democratic freedoms more of a centerpiece of American foreign policy.

Starting a little more than a year ago, the Bush administration began to publicly raise its concerns over Russia's internal practices, particularly the seizure of independent businesses and prosecution of business executives, and more recently over Mr. Putin's efforts to cement his control of the political process.

Two weeks ago, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, in Ankara, Turkey -- a meeting held to plan the one this week in Slovakia between Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin -- a senior official briefing reporters that evening under ground rules of anonymity said she elevated domestic Russian concerns in importance in her talks. But he gave no details.

This week, after Ambassador Ushakov's written responses were received, another senior administration official said he was ''familiar with the whole Russian whine list'' of complaints often directed at the United States' domestic policies.

But even after the Rice-Lavrov session, and talks among officials afterward to prepare for the meeting, two top American officials said they could not be certain what Mr. Putin would raise with Mr. Bush. What Mr. Ushakov's comments seemed to show was a Russian determination to acknowledge some difficulties in trying to combat terrorism but to view any effort by Mr. Bush to discuss Russian domestic matters with firm rebuttals, explanations and counterarguments rather than promises to change anything.

''Russia is open to legitimate criticism,'' Mr. Ushakov said. ''We are aware of our shortcomings on the domestic front and the challenges we still face in overcoming the multitude of complex problems we inherited from the recent and not so recent past.''

He cited the ''terrible tragedy in Beslan,'' referring to the school hostage siege that led to more than 300 deaths, half of them school children, last September, saying that afterward ''it became increasingly obvious that some of our rules of governance need to be adjusted to ensure more security to our people and integrity of the country.''

Mr. Ushakov said that Russia also had ''to take substantial steps against some unlawful business practices hurting our economy'' and that, contrary to American criticism, ''all this by no means constitutes a backslide from our commitment to market economy, democracy, civil society and the rule of law.''

Finally, the ambassador said, ''each country has a unique set of circumstances, different historical and cultural backgrounds'' and that ''what's good for one country might not work elsewhere.''

In Brussels for meetings with European leaders, Mr. Bush said Tuesday that he thought it ''very important that President Putin hear not only from me in a private way, which he will, but also hear some of the concerns I heard around the table today.''

The Bush administration has been upset in particular by the seizure of the oil giant Yukos, the prosecution of its executives and other actions that seem to suggest a new intolerance of independent business power in Russia. In addition, the United States has objected to Mr. Putin's move to end the popular election of regional governors and to make parliamentary voting based on party slates rather than individuals.

Senators John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, and Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat, have called on the United States to remove Russia from the so-called Group of 8, the leading industrial countries, on the basis of its domestic political record.